Was it karma that struck Sasha Lane out of the blue? Might as well have been. British director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) was "streetcasting" for her first feature set in the U.S., American Honey (which won this year's Jury Prize at Cannes), out this month; she'd been trolling Walmarts in America's heartland for nonactors to populate the film—a rough-and-tumble picaresque tale about a gaggle of rootless youths who travel from one roadside motel to another, selling magazine subscriptions in nearby neighborhoods in a fake charity scheme. But two weeks before production was to commence, Arnold still hadn't cast her lead role, Star, a girl in Muskogee, Oklahoma, who ditches her dysfunctional family for life on the road. As Arnold's team scanned the teeming hordes enjoying spring break 2015 in Panama City, Florida, their eyes settled on Lane, a young woman whose open yet pensive demeanor draws the camera like a powerful electromagnet.

Lane, who was born in Houston and briefly attended Texas State University in San Marcos, never studied theater or thought seriously about acting. Now she's living in L.A. and also starring in Hunting Lila, a paranormal sci-fi feature set for release next year, based on the best-selling YA novel.

"It's terrifying," Lane, who just turned 21, says about her new life. "It's weird, because everything about what I do—the photo shoots and everything—makes me really uncomfortable and awkward because I hate a lot of attention on me. I'm the kind of girl who just, like, rolls out of bed and puts my jeans on and shakes my hair out. But I'm super thankful, and blessed, and I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing. It's just different and new, and it's also everything that makes my skin crawl."

Lane was romantically linked with American Honey costar Shia LaBeouf for a while, but more lasting has been her friendship with Riley Keough, who plays the magazine scam's dead-eyed crew boss. After the shoot, Keough invited Lane to come to Paris with her. "She's such a protector—I love her to death," Lane says. "It would be hard to be out in L.A. if I hadn't gotten close with her."

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